Dennis Nett / The Post-StandardCayuga County Sheriff David Gould retired from the state police, then ran for sheriff. He draws a $78,000 annual pension and earns $153,480 as sheriff.

About 40 percent of elected county sheriffs in New York state are double-dipping, drawing both a salary and a check from the state retirement system.

In Central New York, sheriffs in Onondaga, Cayuga, Madison, Oneida and Cortland counties have all retired from law enforcement careers and continued to work full-time as sheriffs.

The arrangement can double their income. In some cases, an annual pension from the state police can even exceed the salary for the job of a county sheriff. For example, Cayuga County Sheriff David Gould brings home an annual income of $153,480 — $75,480 from his day job and $78,000 from his pension after 34 years with the state police.

Most government workers must win special approval to return to work and continue to collect a full pension. But state laws go easier on elected officials. Sheriffs can double dip without anyone’s permission. That’s because the state counts on voters to decide whether they want to elect someone who is already retired and drawing a public pension.

But in many cases, it is unlikely that voters know the details. Even the sheriffs say the issue rarely comes up on the campaign trail and some run unopposed.

View full sizeThe Post-StandardGRAPHIC: Sheriffs in New York who receive both a salary and a pension.

Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh surprised many last year when he retired, then returned to the same job the next day to continue collecting his salary. Walsh is taking $78,612 in pension in addition to his $110,000 salary.

By the time he put in his retirement papers, the election was over and he said he didn’t disclose his plans because no one asked about it.

He said at the time that he was just doing what the law allowed and what others, including his two immediate predecessors, had done. “The system is what it is,” he said.

Oneida County Sheriff Robert Maciol also said no one asked during his campaign whether he would retire and start collecting a pension. When he became sheriff in January, he retired from his 21-year career with the Whitesboro Police Department.

Maciol is making about $24,000 a year from the pension system and about $92,000 in salary.

His opponent, former Assemblyman Dave Townsend, said he was not aware that Maciol planned to start collecting a pension. Townsend would have had the same choice to make and said he would not have started taking his pension if he had been elected.

“That job pays enough. You don’t need to double dip on the taxpayers,” Townsend said. “There’s no reason to. It keeps adding up and when you finally do retire, that’s your final pension.”

Maciol, however, saw a reason to start collecting pension checks now. He has three children headed for college.

There is a downside to his arrangement. If he had waited, his pension amount would have been based on a higher salary instead of the $48,000 salary of a village police officer.

Maciol is only 43 years old. New York state allows law enforcement officers to retire after 20 years, earlier than other government workers, because their jobs are physical and dangerous. That often turns young, trained officers into retirees with decades left to work.

Elected sheriffs have been double dipping for some time. But in a depressed market, more attention is paid to the practice. There is pressure to control the growth of the $147 billion pension system. The number of retired police and firefighters who belong to the pension fund nearly equals the number of active police and firefighters whose employers are contributing to it.

Twenty-three of the state’s 58 elected sheriffs are double dipping.

Each sheriff makes a personal decision that navigates the loopholes and boundaries of the pension system and maximizes his opportunities. For example, government workers who want to collect a pension are prohibited from returning to the same job after they retire. But that limit goes away for elected officials who started their first government jobs before July 26, 1995, and who reach age 65 and start a new term.

Four county sheriffs, including Walsh, have taken advantage of that. The others are in Broome, Livingston and Genesee counties, according to the comptroller’s office.

Ten county sheriffs retired from the state police before becoming sheriffs.

Mike Greenlar / The Post-Standard, 2010Onondaga County Sheriff Kevin Walsh retired last year, then returned to the same job the next day to continue collecting his salary. Walsh is taking $78,612 in pension in addition to his $110,000 salary.

The amount of each pension is based on the worker’s average salary over the last three years of a career. State police often make higher salaries than sheriffs, especially because they can work overtime. So, troopers tend to retire — and lock in to a final salary for the pension system, — before they take a pay cut to be sheriff.

Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Schiff has the highest pension of the state’s elected sheriffs. He is eligible for a $90,000 annual pension after retiring from the state police. He makes an annual salary of $83,786 as sheriff.

Madison County Sheriff Allen Riley, 51, retired from the state police in 2009 to run for sheriff. His pension is $66,752 and his salary is $78,000.

He said he retired because he was eligible after 28 years as a trooper and investigator.

State law requires only that sheriffs be 18 years old, U.S. citizens and residents of the county. But Riley said it takes experience to be responsible for a jail full of inmates and a staff of deputies on the road and in the corrections system. Therefore, the people tend to elect a sheriff who has already had a full career and training.

Riley resents the phrase “double dipping.” To him, the term refers to someone who takes two pensions and that is not allowed in New York.

“I’ve actually earned my retirement already,” he said. “I believe and I feel that I have the right to go on to do something else.”

Gould, 64, of Cayuga County, retired from the state police in 2004 after 34 years and started collecting his $78,000 pension. He said he got a license to be a private investigator, but decided instead to run for sheriff.

He was elected in 2006 to the job that pays $75,480.

When Gould became sheriff, he hired two other retirees from the state police to work for him. James Stowell, the undersheriff, and James Taber, the jail administrator, are both taking a salary and a pension.

Gould and others argue that hiring retirees saves money for county taxpayers.

The county does not have to contribute to the state retirement system for workers who are already retired. In Gould’s case, the county saved about $10,500 in retirement fund contributions and about $12,000 for health and dental insurance this year because Gould is retired, Cayuga County Treasurer Jim Orman said.

State laws also give a break to elected officials who first had a full career in the same agency. Other government workers are not allowed to return to the same employer and collect a full pension. But three sheriffs are entitled to their full pay and pension after they retired from other jobs in the same department.

That includes Cortland County Sheriff Lee Price.

He retired from Cortland County as the undersheriff in 1999, when he was elected sheriff. He was a Democrat in Republican country and said he was not sure if he would be elected again. Also, the salary for sheriff was not high.

So, he said, he decided to retire and start collecting his $31,000 annual pension. Price said he uses the money to pay the bills, but also to buy award plaques for the deputies, to attend luncheons that would normally be paid for by a campaign committee and to put fuel in his patrol car.

He has been re-elected every four years since then.

“In some respects, it was probably the wrong thing to do,” he said. “I was in Tier 1. If I was to retire today, it would be a lot more money.”

Oswego County Sheriff Reuel Todd is the only Central New York sheriff who is not drawing a pension along with his salary. He will have a choice to make if he runs for another term in 2014.

He will be 65 and, after 41 years of work, he is more than eligible to retire. He could return to the same job the next day and keep taking his salary.

He said he does not yet know what he will do. The law allows it. He said the money at the end of the career makes up for the low salary at the start.

“Anybody that puts their life on the line every single day of the year for their whole career, I don’t think you can ever begrudge them the fact of the money that they make,” he said. “Off the record, what would you do?”